1. Field
This disclosure relates generally to semiconductor integrated circuits, and more specifically, to power conservation for semiconductor integrated circuits.
2. Related Art
Generally, it is desirable for an integrated circuit to operate with the lowest possible power consumption. One way to reduce power consumption is to lower the power supply voltage to the integrated circuit. A known technique for achieving power reduction is to test an integrated circuit having a processor and determine the utilization level of the processor. As the processor's utilization factor decreases, the operating frequency of the processor is reduced. Also, the amount of voltage supplied to the processor is reduced a predetermined amount that permits the processor to operate in a more efficient manner.
Another known technique for achieving power reduction is to test an integrated circuit in a test environment which induces temperature variation and measures performance for the specific integrated circuit. A power supply voltage value is then selected and programmed into the integrated circuit based upon the measured test results. The value of the power supply voltage that is determined during the test mode remains constant after the integrated circuit has been tested and thus must be selected sufficiently high to meet all operating environments that the integrated circuit has been specified to be functional.